Historic Earthquakes

Western Ohio
1937 03 09 05:44:35.5 UTC (local 03/08)
Magnitude 5.40
Intensity VIII

An earthquake stronger than the shock on March 2 centered near Anna in Shelby County. The three-story schoolhouse at Anna was cracked severely, and the churches that were damaged in the March 2 shock were further damaged. Almost every chimney was broken or twisted, and house foundations and walls were cracked. A few chimneys fell at Sidney, about 12 kilometers south of Anna, and plaster was damaged. Subsurface changes caused by the two earthquakes included renewed activity of springs, conversion of ordinary wells to artesian wells, and an increase in the flow of other water wells; the output of both oil and gas wells was reduced. A spring at Huntsville (Logan County), dry for 8 years, began "spouting water" after the second shock, and the flow of artesian wells was increased at New Knoxville (about 45 kilometers west of Huntsville). This shock was felt in upper stories of multistory buildings in Chicago and Milwaukee and in Toronto, Canada. Also felt in Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

Abridged from Seismicity of the United States, 1568-1989 (Revised), by Carl W. Stover and Jerry L. Coffman, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1527, United States Government Printing Office, Washington: 1993.